Happy Cinco de Mayo! Cinco de Mayo celebrates the day Mexico defeated the French at the battle of Puebla. But it quite possible that it’s celebrated more in America than in Mexico. It also happens to be my birthday and since I happen to love Mexican food, I decided to post a Mexican dish today.
I had been calling this enchiladas verdes because it has a green chili tomatillo sauce on it – typically called salsa verdes. But when I went to get for Marcela Valladolid’s recipe that I saw on The Kitchen, I realized these were called Enchiladas Suizas. How did I mix that up? Well from what Google tells me the addition of a cream sauce along with the salsa verde turns enchiladas verdes into enchiladas suizas.
These are pretty easy to put together – I especially love the homemade salsa verde we’re going to make.
Here’s what you need:
We’re going to start by roasting a couple bone-in chicken breasts. You could also start with a store bought rotisserie chicken and shred it. Place the chicken on a foil lined baking sheet, season with a little salt and pepper and roast in a 425 degree oven for about 20 minutes.
Once the chicken cools, shred it and set aside.
While the chicken cooks, let’s get ready to make the salsa verde. I strayed a little from Marcela’s recipe by making a roasted salsa. Line a baking sheet with foil. Peel the papery skin off the tomatillos and place on the baking sheet along with 2 serrano chilis and 2 wedges of onion – about a ¼ of an onion. Slide into the oven and cook for about 10 minutes until the tomatillos start to brown and turn an olive green color.
Now we’re going to turn to the blender to make up this lovely salsa for us. Toss in the tomatillos and the onions you roasted, but hold off on the serranos. These bring the spice to the salsa so we’re not going to add them all at once. If you are a junior mouth-burner like my parents I suggest adding a half serrano that you seed first. If you can handle some heat start with one seeded pepper, leave the seeds in If you’re a true mouth-burner. Once you have blended it up taste and add more as you like.
Also add in two cloves of garlic, a hearty handful of cilantro and some salt and pepper.
Blend up, taste, and adjust seasoning including adding more pepper to your desired heat level. I forgot to take a picture at this point –but feel free to scroll down and get a good look a couple pictures down.
In a measuring cup or small bowl mix together a ½ cup of Mexican crema (or sour cream if you can’t find it) and ½ c heavy cream.
We’re going to use corn tortillas for this and it’s best if you soften the tortillas. Do this by heating about a tablespoon of oil in a small skillet and fry until golden but still pliable – about 10 seconds per side. Remove to a paper towel lined plate. Repeat with 7 more tortillas, adding more oil as needed.
Now it’s time to assemble. Pour a little bit of your tomatillo sauce into the bottom of a baking dish – I used a 9×13 pan.
Lay out your tortillas and divide the chicken among the tortillas.
Roll up and place seam side down in the baking dish.
Now pour the tomatillo sauce over the top of the enchiladas.
Drizzle on the crema and cream mixture. (If you leave this off, you will make enchiladas verdes which are pretty darn tasty in their own right).
Cover with some shredded Oaxaca or Monterey jack cheese.
Now pop into a 350 degree oven and bake for about 30 minutes until the cheese starts to bubble and brown.
Serve immediately.
- 2 bone-in chicken breasts
- 9 tomatillos, husked
- ¼ white onion, cut into a two wedges
- 2 serrano chilis
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- ¼ bunch fresh cilantro
- Salt & freshly ground pepper
- ½ c Mexican crema
- ½ c heavy cream
- Vegetable oil
- 8 corn tortillas
- ½ c shredded Oaxaca or Monterey jack cheese
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line two baking sheets with foil.
- Season chicken with salt and pepper and bake for 20 minutes or until cooked. Once cool enough to handle, shred and set aside.
- Meanwhile, on the other baking sheet place the tomatillos, onion, and serrano chilies. Bake for 10 minutes or until the tomatillos are beginning to brown and turn an olive green color.
- Add the tomatillos, onion, serrano chili (start with a half chili, seeded if you don’t like much heat and a whole chili if you can handle more heat), garlic, cilantro, salt and pepper to a blender. Blend until smooth. Taste and add more chilies as desired or more salt and pepper.
- Mix Mexican crema and heavy cream. Set aside.
- Heat a tablespoon of oil in a small plan. Cook corn tortillas one at a time until golden but still pliable, about 10 seconds per side. Remove to a paper towel lined plate.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
- Spread a thin layer of the tomatillo salsa in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
- Divide the chicken evenly among the tortillas. Roll up and place in the baking dish seam side down in a single layer.
- Pour the remaining salsa on top. Drizzle with cream mixture. Sprinkle with shredded cheese.
- Bake about 30 minutes until the cheese is melted, a bubbly and a little golden.
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